Star Dance

“There was a star danced, and under that was I born.”

- William Shakespeare

Today is my birthday. On December 16, _____, I came into this world naked and quietly in awe of the bright and noisy world which would offer me so much.

My mother, a university professor at the time, had to send my father to her class to give finals that morning. My father, a doctoral psychology student at the time, was dreaming of all of the lessons about our shared humanity we might be able to learn together. I grew up thinking that they had two of the strangest careers in the world: being a psychologist and a professor. I think one of my father’s friends called them both “high priests of the status quo”. I’m sure none of us ever settled on whether this was an insult or a compliment. Somehow, I think he purposefully made his comment carry both.

We were a busy family, like so many with two working parents. We did, however, always find some time together.

Early in life, I remember taking various psychological assessments, which I thought were games. My father would sit me down at the dining room table, open a big strange briefcase, and bring forth some new and strange puzzle or test for me to successfully navigate. We bonded together in those few hours as the sun streamed in from the skylights. Without realizing it, dad was asking me to participate in activities that would allow me, at a very early age, to understand aspects of my character. Every insight which I shared with him offered him the opportunity to tweek my understanding to shed new light and offer me more lessons.

 Once the evening began to fade the day, my mother would take me for a walk on the beach. I remember the shimmering light reflecting off the wet sand at low tide. Swirls of light reflected around the grooves of sand made by the escaping sand. Mom would walk beside me and tell me stories. Most often, these were made up stories populated with animal characters. They caught my 6 year old attention. And she always turned the stories into a game; she would tell me a little bit and then ask some questions. Upon answering each question, I became more and more a participant in shaping the direction of the story, as well as an active participant in the shaping of my thinking.

I was extremely lucky to be born under two stars dancing.

This luck isn’t summed up from only my memories at the dining table or the great pools of light at low tide. The pursuit of consciousness is perpetual. The exuberant light of the lives they live, however, has filled me with the knowledge, experience, and critical thinking abilities which have shaped my approach to life. Here I am, on my __^th birthday, again simply naked and silent and again filled with wonder for this life which wraps itself around me in swaddling sensation.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for bringing me into this magical place, giving me some tools and shaping some that I came with, and for always being a loving presence.

I love you.

Your son,

Z